Nico Di Angelo and Isaac Malone
by 11greengummybears
Summary: Hades threatens to unleash the underworld if not given a rightful place at Olympus. Isaac,  OC  and Nico, and others, go on a quest to stop him. Also a love story between Isaac and Nico. I know Isaac is a guy name, but Isaac is a girl, okay?
1. Chapter 1

Isaac POV

It was a dark and stormy night. Actually, it was just a dark night, but, whatever. I was making my way down an alley with a bag of food I had just stolen from someone's car.

It was easy, I always had some basic tools in my pockets. I was almost to my tent, if you could call it that, it was mostly made out of sheets that people threw out, when I heard a noise. I got pretty scared until I snapped myself out of it and thought,

_it's an alley, I'm sure there are tons of noises, it's probably just a cat._

Plus, I had lived on the streets for nearly four years, I didn't know why I was getting so scared all of the sudden. It wasn't like me, I got through things by telling myself that I was tough, and had been a street kid long enough to not be scared anymore.

But that wasn't necessarily true, sure, I was tough, most people would back off if I threatened them, but every time I went to sleep at night, I felt like the same 10 year old girl on her first night running away, scared and alone. _Very _alone. I had kept on walking to my destination, when I heard another noise.

I turned around just to check to see if anybody or any_thing_ was following me, when, out of nowhere, a gigantic dog tackled me. I kept myself from screaming, only because if someone called the cops I would be dead meat. I kind of stole a lot of stuff.

_Actually,_ I thought, _I probably am dead meat right now._

The thing on top of me had wicked claws, it's teeth were almost four inches long in the front, it probably weighed the same as a semi truck, and it's breath was down-right horrible.

I had a switchblade in my pocket, so, trying to move quietly, I reached inside and slowly pulled it out. I flipped it so that it was ready to use, and thrust it into the dogs belly. I thought I had done pretty good, but right as the blade hit it's stomach, it bounced off of it's skin and my blade snapped in half because of the impact. I couldn't believe it, this thing broke my stinkin switchblade! My failed attempt did distract the beast though. He jumped off me like I was some sort of psycho. Yea, like _I'm_ the psycho here. Who's the one who's breath smells like dead bodies? Not me, mister!

Since he got off of me, it gave me a chance to get up. Bad decision. My ribs were crushed from the impact of the tackle. I tried to stand up but almost collapsed doing so. I had to try my best though, I wasn't going to die then.

I stood up, ignoring the pain in my ribs, and faced the abnormally large dog. Now. was like a bear, but inside a dogs body. It had sleek black hair and eyes full of hate. Just looking into it's eyes made you want to dig a hole, crawl in it, and die. That option sounded pretty good to me, actually. But I couldn't, because right then, the beast charged.

And it charged fast.

I dove to one side right before it would have hit me, and it slammed into the brick wall behind me. I thought I was off to a fairly good start, but the beast was barely dazed. It got up and charged again. I tried my same move and it fell for it again.

_Hallelujah._

But this time, instead of running into a wall, it ran into..

_Was that a sword?_

Sure enough, a black sword was stuck right in the middle of the beasts eyes. I looked to see who had done that and what I saw was almost as scary as that _thing_ he just killed. Ok, maybe I over exaggerated a bit, but this guy blended into the shadows so well that he looked pretty scary to me.

He looked around my age, maybe a little older, he had jet black hair and exquisite black eyes. His hair was kinda long and messed up. I also noticed that he was wearing all black clothes, black converse, black jeans, a black green day shirt and black jacket. Black, black, black. He was kind of cute, in a punk, emo sort of way.

"Um... hi" I said sheepishly.

"Hi. I'm Nico Di Angelo."


	2. Chapter 2

Nico POV

I was out of breath. I had been chasing this girl everywhere and I had never even seen her! I hate stupid demigod quests. She is seriously hard to keep up with.

As I was walking in the shadows, following her, I realized a hellhound was following her too.

_How did I not notice this sooner? _I thought. _Oh yeah, shadow travel. Duh._

You would think a son of Hades would know that.

The hellhound pounced, and I shadow traveled closer to her, just in case she needed my help. What was in her hand? Of course, a switchblade, a mortal weapon. She stabbed, well, _tried_ to stab the hellhound and her blade snapped. I was about to run and help, but the hellhound leaped off o her. I thought she was going to be fine, but as she got up, she doubled over and almost fell. She got up again, and the hound charged. She dodged to the side.

I decided to go help right about then. I wasn't going to have this demigod die and me be the blame. The hellhound charged again and I shadow traveled right behind her. She dodged again, as I had expected, and I stabbed the hellhound right through his head. Clear shot. Well, stab.

I looked at the girl, and she looked terrified. Well, she looked more than that. She looked exhausted, scared, and really hungry. You could almost see every bone in her body. Her wrist was so tiny that a seven year old could probably wrap their whole hand around it. She was pale, and her green eyes stood out intensely against her skin. Her brown hair fell in messy choppy layers around her face. She was wearing purple converse high tops, ripped jeans, a tattered and worn 30 Seconds to Mars shirt, a blue jacket and a… wait, a Sonic hat? You have _got_ to be kidding me.

Okay, I'll admit, I was kind of liking this girl. 30 Seconds to Mars? Oh yeah. She would probably be beautiful if she hadn't looked like she had gotten run over by a dirt bike. Emphasis on the word _dirt._ She had freckles on her nose, and under her eyes, and her mouth constantly looked like it was trying to form a smile, but couldn't remember how.

"um.. hi" she said. Her voice was hoarse, I be she hadn't had a drink of water in a while, much less talked to someone in a while.

"Hi. I'm Nico Di Angelo." I replied in my best, "I have just heroically saved the day" voice. Yeah, like she'd buy that.

Right after I finished, she collapsed. _Wow, she falls down a lot. _I walked over to her and checked her pulse. She was breathing sharp, quick gasps.

"My r-ribs" she managed to get out. _Of course! When she was tackled, her ribs probably cracked! Oh, that's bad._

I felt along her ribs, which was easy to do, since she was so skinny, and sure enough, two of her ribs were cracked. Crushed, more like. I reached inside my pocket and got some nectar and ambrosia to feed her. Her ribs healed, but she was still in no shape to walk. I picked her up and walked over to some shadows in the alley.

Soon, we had arrived at half-blood hill, and were making our way to the big house.

"Where am I?" the girl asked.

"Camp Half-Blood, don't worry, you're safe here."

She was beginning to realize what was happening, that she was with some strange guy who just suddenly appeared at this place. I forgot that I didn't tell her that she was a demigod, and I didn't even know her name. Oops.

I carried her into the infirmary and set her down on one of the beds. She had fallen asleep while I was walking her down to the big house, so I had no trouble getting her into the bed. Chiron came in in his wheel chair, I guess he didn't want to freak her out yet.

"I see you've returned safely. Some what."

"Thanks Chiron." I replied sarcastically.

"Where's she from?" Chiron asked.

"I don't know"

"Does she know she's a demigod?"

"No."

"Well, what's her name, then?"

"I don't know."

"Nico! I expected you to know these things!"

"I couldn't! She fainted right after I introduced myself!"

Chiron sighed. "Fine. I guess those will have to wait till later. What caused her to faint?"

"A hellhound tackled her."

"And you killed it?"

"Well, yea"

"Good."

Ok, so I didn't know her name, and I didn't tell her she was a demigod. What's the big deal? I got her here alive, right?

"Go to your cabin and get some rest, Nico. I'm sure you need it." 

I wanted to protest that I wanted to stay, but Chiron didn't want to argue. As I made my way to my cabin, something surprised me. It was quiet. Camp is never quiet. I also remembered that when I brought the girl in, nobody came to greet me. Where was everybody? I looked around. Nope, nobody on the volleyball court, the beach, the forges looked completely empty, and the cabins had no lights on inside.

I decided to check the arena though, just because I was getting way too freaked out. As I got nearer to the arena, I could hear shouting, cheering, and booing. I walked in, and the stands were packed with every single camper. In the middle, sword-fighting, was Percy Jackson and Leo Valdez.

"What in Hades…" I trailed off. "Uh, why are Percy and Leo fighting? I asked a nearby camper. Piper McLean, I remembered.

"Oh, Nico, you're back." She barely even glanced at me. She was watching so intently that I was afraid she would fall over, she was leaning forward so much. "Uh, there's this tournament thing, it's mostly sword-fighting, but you can use any of your inherited Godly powers."

"And they decide to do this while I'm gone? Figures."

"Well, it was kind of a last minute thing. Percy and Leo are the final contestants. Percy knocked Clarisse out last round, and Leo won over Annabeth."

"Wait, Leo beat Annabeth? I bet Percy's mad."

"It does look like he's fighting hard.."

I looked at the fight. There was a huge water basin so that Percy could use his powers, and Leo was going all flame-o and stuff. It looked as though Leo were winning, which was weird, Percy is usually amazing at stuff like this. Percy's hair was singed, and his clothes had burnt holes through them. Leo looked fine, except that he was soaking wet.

As the fight went on, Leo kept throwing fire, and Percy kept putting them out, until Leo summoned tons of white-hot flames. Percy tried to put them all out but Leo knocked him out with the hilt o his sword, and it was done. Apollo kids rushed to the middle of the ring and started healing Percy. Everybody swarmed Leo and started raising him on their shoulders and running him all over the arena. Percy was up, he didn't have any major injuries, and his hair wasn't singed anymore, probably thanks to the Aphrodite campers. He didn't look mad, he just looked happy that it was over. I guess that Clarisse had probably given him a really hard time.

Everybody was going to the Mess Hall to celebrate, but I was tired, and needed sleep right away. So I headed back to Hades cabin, walked in, and crashed on my bed. Within seconds, I was asleep.

A/N

How do you like?

Review, please!

:D


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Isaac POV

I woke up in this strange hospital looking thing.

_What on earth…?_

Then I remembered, the weird bear-dog thing, the strange guy carrying me.

_Ugh, so stupid! Why did I trust that kid?_

But he hadn't killed me yet, so I guessed that he wasn't _that_ bad, and plus, he was quite attractive. I sat up in my bed and was greeted warmly by a horrible sharp pain in my ribs. I cried out in pain, and fell back down into a laying position.

"Ah, you're up." The voice made me jump, I had no idea where it had come from. I turned my head, and there was a girl with bleach blonde hair falling in curls away from her face, bright blue eyes, and a huge smile on her face sitting right next to me.

"Who are you?" I asked. She looked around my age, but who knows, she could probably be planning my demise and covering it up with those amazingly white teeth.

"I'm Lucy. Daughter of Apollo." She said. "What's your name?"

"Isaac.. What did you say? Daughter of who?"

"Oh," She waved away the question with her hand dismissively. "Chiron will explain all that later. My job is to heal you."

"Oh. Okay."

The girl, Lucy, pulled out something from a bag, it looked like a square pastry, like the ones you would get in a cute little French shop.

"Here, take this. It will make the pain go away."

"How do I know you're not trying to kill me?" I was still nervous about everything.

Lucy laughed. Seriously, what's so funny about her killing me?

"It won't kill you, silly!" She exclaimed between laughing. "It's _ambrosia!_ Chiron will explain in a little bit, but for now you gotta trust me."

Yea, no way, lady. I took it anyway. Psh, why not? It's not like I had an amazing life before.

The ambrosia, as Lucy called it, tasted amazing. My first bite was my favorite meal, sloppy-joes. Second bite, hot fudge sundae, my favorite dessert. Okay, I was kid of starting to trust this girl. Lucy then gave me a weird liquid and told me to drink only one sip, or else I would be burned alive from the inside out.

Yea, that thing I said about the trusting? Discard that.

I took one sip though and it tastes like my favorite drink of all time. Root Beer. I hadn't tasted it in forever! I wanted to drink the whole thing down, but the warning about the burning thing was still looming over my head.

"You should be able to sit up now." Lucy said with another blinding smile.

Turns out, I could sit up! It was weird, but I figured that my life couldn't go very far down-hill from there. I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Soon after Lucy had fixed me up and given me a proper meal, this man in a wheelchair, Chiron, as I was told, came in to my hospital-type room and told Lucy to leave. I was about to freak out and shout at Lucy not to go; hey, she was the only person I really trusted, okay? Then I realized, the man was in a wheelchair, I doubted he could hurt me, even if he wanted to.

So Lucy left as ordered, and Chiron closed the door behind her.

"Hello. I'm Chiron." He started.

"So I've heard. I'm Isaac." I replied. Easier to give him my name right then, rather than him have to ask it out of me later.

"Last name, please?"

"Malone. But please just call me Isaac. I like my name."

"I will." He promised. "Isaac, there is something you must know. About your parents." Chiron added the last part a bit apprehensively.

"Um.. Okay. Go on." I urged him.

"This will be a little hard to understand, but you might as well know before you get claimed. You do know about the Greek gods and goddesses, right?

"Yeah. My mom taught me about them before I ran away."

"Good. They're real."

Silence. It's hard to describe what was going on in my head. My thoughts jumbled together as I tried to think straight, the tears forming in my eyes and my eyelids pushing them back. Swallowing hard, breathing rapidly. All the pain of the tackle rushing back in those few moments of silence. That small sentence the man had told me, forming over and over in my brain.

They're real. They're real.

It seemed so hard to believe, yet se easy. Maybe it was just me, deprived of everything until now, clinging on to that one sentence just for the sake of having something, anything, to believe in.

Was this what I was meant for?

Have I been alive solely for this purpose?

_No. I am not going to believe a crazy man. Have the two kids I met, Nico and Lucy, fallen under this insane mans spell, like I almost had before I caught myself?_

Chiron could tell that I was doubting him. "Yes, it's hard to believe. Bug give me a chance, and I'll show you I am right."

"No way, mister," I shot back at him. "I don't trust you. Why should I? This is stupid, just let me go back on the streets if you want to kill me faster!"

I was infuriated. Why had he brought me here? Do they think I can't take care of myself? I was tired of everybody thinking I was puny. I'm not. That stupid café man coming out and giving me money because I was hanging out in his alley and apparently looked like some pathetic homeless girl that _needed_ his help. That was definitely not me.

"You're going to have to trust me, Isaac. It's your only choice. Would you rather have three meals a day, or one? A cabin to stay in, or a tent made out of torn sheets? Sooner or later you're going to have to deal with it, and _trust me._"

"Fine. Show me what you were going to show me. Then I'll decide." 

I was being more stubborn than usual. Hey, why not? It's not like I was going to _stay_ here.

Chiron fed me another ambrosia square thing, and made me drink some more of the liquid. As I tried to stand up, the guy who brought me here, Nico, came in. He looked the same as when he "saved" me. Black everything, except now he was wearing a different t-shirt. I didn't recognize the band though. Shame.

"Ah Nico, you came just in time." Chiron greeted him. "Would you mind helping Miss Isaac walk?"

"No problem." Nico winked at me, then walked over to where my bed was. My stomach did a little dance inside me, and my face started blushing against my will.

"Thank you" I said to Nico. I then looked at Chiron and gave him a glare. "Don't call me "Miss". I don't like it."

Chiron raised his arms in surrender. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again." He said in a disgustingly innocent voice.

"Good." I did my best to put on a smug look, but it wasn't easy while in pain.

At first, I was planning on just holding on to Nico as I walked, but Nico had other plans. As soon as I was up, Nico wrapped his right arm around my shoulders, which was quite easy for him to do since he was about a foot taller than me, and grabbed my left arm and made me wrap it around his waist.

"There. You okay?" He asked me.

I realized that my face probably looked like an overgrown tomato, so I said, "Yeah, of course I am, I'm just.." I paused, not knowing what to say. "…dizzy…" I said as I found the right word. "Been knocked unconscious too long."

"Well okay then." Nico said with finality. I could tell he didn't believe me. Ugh.

We started walking together, and I found myself leaning on him a lot because I was so off balance from being tackled by a huge dog. But Nico didn't seem to mind. As we stepped out of the door of the Big House, as Nico called it, I got my first glimpse of the closest thing to paradise I had ever seen.

My first thought, _I must be dead._

Yes, it did look that amazing. I gasped several times as I noticed all the details. I first saw the ocean. That made me gasp first. I then saw the lines of cabins, a U with a couple cabins extended from the tips. I saw an arena, and that earned a gasp as well. A volley ball court, stables, a huge tangle of woods, amphitheater, cafeteria, and fields upon fields of strawberries. The smell reached my nose and I breathed in the sweet scent. The last thing I saw, a workshop. More like a forge, really. I couldn't believe it, and I loved it.

"Amazing, isn't it? Chiron's voice said behind me. I turned around to respond, but I couldn't. because Chiron had become a horse.

"Wha…?" I lost my voice.

"And surprising. This is what I wanted to show you. I thought maybe you would believe me after you saw. I am a Centaur. A Centaur is an old Greek mythological creature. But, as you can see, there's nothing mythological about it. For I am standing before you as one."

As this came to my understanding, I started to notice more Greek themes around the camp ground. The horses in the stables weren't actually horses, they were Pegasi. The people working in the Strawberry Fields weren't actually people, they were half goat, half man. Satyrs, I thought. And I lastly noticed a sword strapped to Nico's side. And a sword strapped to that camper, and that camper. I counted twelve different weapons on people, kids more like, as they walked by before Chiron spoke to me again.

"So, Isaac, are you up to giving it a try?" He asked me.

I was speechless for a moment, deciding. Finally, I decided that it looked like all the kids here were sane, except for the half horse one standing by me, and they all looked like they were having the time of their lives. Swimming, playing volleyball, everything they did. "Yes. Yes I will." I nodded to Chiron then smiled.

"Perfect! Nico, would you mind showing Isaac around the camp? You look like you can handle her on your own." Chiron winked at Nico then walked, uh, trotted, away.

"So," Nico said, ignoring my red cheeks. "Where do you want to go first?"

"There." I pointed to the workshop. "I want to go there."

"Okay, no problem." We started walking and I knew that I would never try to go back to my old life on the streets. No way.

A/N Hi. So yea. Review and stuff. By the way, this is supposed to be after the Lost Hero and pretending that nothing really ever happened. And stuff like that. So yea. Review please!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Review please! Yup. That's all I have to say. So yea.

Slowly, but surely, I gained control over my feet. Nico talked to me as we walked towards the workshop type thing, pointing out little places in camp. He showed me the lava leaking rock climbing wall, the very tip of Zeus' fist peeking out over the tips of the trees, and the canoes for, uh, canoeing. It felt so comfortable talking to Nico. It felt like talking to an old friend.

"So," Nico said to me after he finished explaining capture the flag. "Do you think you're going to like it here?"

_Hmm, let me think about that. You seem nice enough and most people would mistake you as a weird, emo…_"Yes. I think I will."

"Good. Because if you didn't, I'd have to kill you."

I laughed, "What could you do to kill me?"

"Well, I could tell you. But then I'd have to kill you. Twice. For good measure." He said as he raised an eyebrow at me.

I stared at him. "Um.. Okay. Don't tell me then I guess."

We were almost to the door of the workshop, and I was practically jumping up and down in excitement. My ADHD did that to me when I got excited. I could tell that beyond that look of a regular old shop, there was something more. Maybe even magical.

_I sound like a fairy._

Nico led me in to the forge and introduced me to everybody. There were probably more than two dozen campers, and apparently there were more in the arena. There were kids ranging from 8 to college-aged. Everyone was working on some sort of project. One kid was building something that looked like a car motor, another was making a dagger, and another was working on a chariot. Hanging on the walls were some sweet power tools that my hands were just itching to get a hold of.

"Hi. I'm Nyssa." A girl maybe a year or two older than me held out her hand for me to shake.

"I'm Isaac. Nice to meet you." I said as I shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you too. This is Leo, our counselor, or Head of Cabin." She pointed to a Latino boy a few feet away from her. He was the one working on the chariot.

"Hey!" He said to me, grinning like he had downed 8 cups of coffee that morning. His wild eyes looked me up and down. "You're new."

"Yes. I'm just showing her around camp." Nico said next to me.

"Claimed yet?" Leo asked me.

"Uh.. Claimed?" I asked, confused.''

"It's when your godly parent tells everybody that you're their kid." Leo explained. I noticed that as he spoke, he waved his hands, motioning, as if to always have your attention. It worked. "So you haven't been claimed, I guess, since you don't know what claiming is."

"Yea. Right." It was so much to take in.

"Which parent did you live with? Mom or dad?" Nico asked me.

"I lived with my mom. But I ran away when I was ten." I gave both of them a glare that I hoped they'd understand. _End of story. Drop it._ They looked like they got the hint.

"OK, so that means your godly parent was your dad." Leo aid. He quickly hurried on, "You should see the archery range. It's pretty cool." After that, Leo went on working on his chariot.

"So, let's go to the Hermes cabin. That's where you'll stay until your dad claims you. It will probably happen tonight at the campfire." Nico said, leading me to the door.

"OK. Let's go." As I was going to be there a while, I didn't really care where I went next, I'd see it all someday.

Nico pointed out campers and told me who their godly parent was. He showed me all the cabins, and I almost puked when he showed me a life-size Barbie house with a foul perfume stench soaked on every inch of it. There were a couple of girls coming out who were laughing and pointing at people and whispering about them. They had make-up caked on their faces and the most ridiculous clothes on. I guess they thought they were stylish, but they looked like clowns to me. They were the prissiest prissy you could get. Nico looked uncomfortable.

"Um.. Yea. This is.. Aphrodite. Let's move on.." He grabbed my wrist and led me to the next cabin. Usually, I would have been flattered if a boy grabbed my hand, but at the moment Nico was moving so fast that I was practically tripping over every blade of grass. As we were walking, stumbling, dragging, the Aphrodite girls spotted us and waved at Nico, batting their eyelahes. Nico muttered something in Ancient Greek and kept dragging me behind him. When we got a descent distance from the girls, Nico finally slowed down and let me catch my breath.

"This is Poseidon, Zeus and Hera. Hera and Zeus are empty." Nico explained pointing to the three biggest cabins.

"Who's in Poseidon?"

"A guy named Percy. He's pretty cool. You'll usually find him hanging out with a really smart blonde girl."

"I thought those didn't exist." I said, my voice oozing with sarcasm.

"Wow." Nico rolled his eyes.

"Why are Zeus and Hera empty?" I asked, getting back on the point at hand.

"Hera's the goddess of marriage, so, naturally, she doesn't have any half mortal half god children. Zeus has a daughter, Thalia, but she joined a hunting group, the Hunters of Artemis, a while ago and doesn't visit camp often."

"Cool. Wait, I've been hanging out with you almost all day, and I haven't even learned which godly parent you have. So, spit it out. Who's yours?"

Nico hesitated. "Well, uh… Hades. God of the Underworld." He looked at me as if I was a bomb and he was just waiting for me to explode.

"Oh that's cool," He was taken aback, "Does that mean you could control dead stuff? That would be_ awesome!_" It did sound cool to me. Son of Hades? Dude! That would be amazing!

"Uh, yea. I can raise skeleton armies and stuff like that. You mean, you're not freaked out?" Nico looked confused.

"What? No way, I think that's amazing!" I grinned at him like a kid on Christmas morning. Which was odd, because my mom and I had never celebrated Christmas..

"Oh. Well, you're the first. Most people avoid me because of it. Some get used to it, like Percy and Annabeth and some others, but I don't think that anybody's thought of it as _amazing…_" He was more talking to himself now, but soon got back on track and led me to another cabin.

**A/N: So? What do you think? Sorry I didn't write more, but I was getting tired.. HEHEHE lame excuse noted. OH YEA, sorry that this chapter hasn't gotten up sooner. If I had a magical fairy I would definitely get her to do it. But fairies aren't real and that's only a minor problem in getting a fairy… Well, okay then! I won't be updating until next next week probably because this week I am jam packed with tons of stuff. So yea. Please review! I know there's gotta be SOME readers out there! So, ya know, review! In fact, I won't put up the next chapter until 2 people review. Humph. (I know that a lot of people do that, but, whatever.) So yea. Now you've got an ACTUAL reason to review. Suggestions and criticisms are welcomed. (They could even sit on my couch!)**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A/N FINALLY! 2 REVIEWS! I was starting to doubt myself. And we all know what happens when people doubt themselves.. Kidding!

Isaac POV

"This is the Hermes cabin" Nico showed me a really normal looking cabin with a Greek caduceus hanging over the door.

I walked in and a bucket of water poured down on me. Two boys a couple of years older than me stood in font of me with guilty and shocked expressions on their faces.

"Well I.." One started.

"But we.." The other cut in.

"You kinda.."

"And then.."

"We're sorry." They said in unison.

"You guys sure know how to make me feel welcome." I grumbled.

"What happened? Why are you soaking wet? Did you guys just _apologize?_" Nico asked from behind me.

"We kind of heard your voice out there," The boy on the left said, addressing Nico. "And we set up this prank real fast. And then you let the girl come in first. And she got wet."

Nico's face turned from confused to completely infuriated. "You tried to _prank_ me?!" He shouted at them. "I can _easily_ arrange your deaths!"

"Yeah, but it's so fun to get you angry! Uh, I mean, it will never happen again. You have our word." One of the boys said.

I hadn't been thinking about it, mostly because I had just gotten a bucket of water poured on me, but the boys looked exactly the same. And when I say exactly, I mean _exactly._ They both had curly brown hair in a messy mop on top of their heads. Their eyebrows had the same arches, and their eyes were both brown with the same humored glint in them. They had upturned noses, and mischievous smirks like they knew something you didn't. Which, right now, wasn't that hard to believe. They were tall and handsome, probably old enough to be in college.

"It better not." Nico grumbled. "This is Isaac, the girl you pranked. She's new."

"Awesome! New campers are cool. I'm Connor by the way. This is my brother, Travis."

"Hi." Travis said. They both held out their hands for me to shake.

"Okay, but don't count on me to remember which one of you is which. I'm really bad at that." I told them.

"Nah, it's fine, people who have known us for years still mix us up. Chiron still does, and I think _that_ is a major accomplishment." Connor said.

Nico wasn't amused, but I had to chuckle at their enthusiasm. In the background, a horn blew a long, flat, note.

"That's the dinner signal." Nico explained.

"Oh, is it already time for dinner?" I asked.

"Yeah. Hence the "signal for dinner" horn." Connor said, winking at me.

"Right. Yeah." I said, embarrassed.

As we walked up to the Mess Hall, tons of people came up to Travis and Connor, who were walking beside me on my left, and Nico, who was on my right. I recognized Nyssa, walking beside someone I had never met before, and Leo goofing off at a picnic table. It seemed to me that everyone at this camp knew everyone else. As I looked around, there were guys and girls talking and laughing all over the place. A pang of jealousy shot through me. I had never had a lot of friends, really. I never really cared about it, either. I guess just seeing it made me jealous.

"What's that about?" Nico asked me.

I realized I had been laughing at myself for being so petty. I recovered quickly though, because I didn't want to have to explain, especially to Nico. "Oh, nothing. I'm fine." His quizzical look made me think that he was going to question further, but he dropped it, and kept walking.

As we walked into the Mess Hall, voices rang from every direction. I started to get scared as every face turned towards me when Nico and I entered. Apparently, news traveled fast at this camp.

Chiron trotted up to us, his hooves clopping against the stone floor and echoing loudly around the silent room. Travis and Connor were already at their table and greeting their friends.

"Hello Nico, Isaac." Chiron nodded to us. He then turned around to address the whole camp, and his voice startled me as he boomed out, "Heroes! This is Isaac Malone. She is a new camper and I expect you to treat her kindly, as she doesn't know her way around quite yet." He turned back to us and said quietly, "I assume you will be claimed tonight. No need to be scared, it happens to everybody." Chiron headed back to his table at the end of the hall, and Nico explained to me that I would be sitting at the Hermes table, with Travis and Connor. He walked away from me, and sat down at a table at the end of the hall all alone.

I walked to where Travis and Connor were, assuming that that was the Hermes cabin table. The silence was still hanging uncomfortably in the air as I went, but when I sat down the campers voices gradually started up again. "Hey, Isaac." The brothers said in unison, scooting away from each other to make room for me.

"Thanks." I replied, sitting down.

Just when I had gotten settled, and started to look at the delicious meal before me, every single camper stood up and formed a line leading to the fire. "Uh, what are we doing?" I asked Connor, I think, as I got in line behind him with my plate full of food.

"Offering to the gods." He told me, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "Scrape the best part of your meal into the fire. We usually say a silent prayer to our godly parent, but since you're new you can just pray to the gods in general."

I looked down at my plate, trying to choose the best part. I finally decided on an extra juicy piece of barbecued pork. When Connor and I reached the fire, he scraped some mashed potatoes and gravy in, muttered something under his breath, and walked back to the table. Then it was my turn. Still not knowing what to do, I stepped up to the flame, pushed my barbecue into the fire and thought, _this is crazy but, to my dad, whoever you are._ As I walked back to the Hermes table I caught Nico's eye. He quickly smiled, then looked away.

"So when do we do this campfire every body keeps talking about?" I asked one of the Hermes kids who had just introduced herself to me as Leanne.

"After dinner. It's really dorky, but you'll get used to it." She assured me.

"I'm not sure I'll get used to anything around here." I said, looking at a girl levitating her food and throwing it at her friends. " How long have you been here?"

"Ever since I can remember. My mom dropped me off at a really early age. We had too many monster attacks and this was the only safe place for me. Chiron took me in and raised me, and my dad claimed me a couple months after my mom dropped me here."

"Wow. Do you ever get to see your mom?" I asked.

"I used to go home during the summer, but monsters liked me too much and wouldn't leave us alone. She's still in Arkansas, but I haven't seen her in a couple of years."

"I'm sorry." I apologized, feeling like an intruder.

"You're fine! We all go through things like that. So, what's _your_ story?" She asked me.

"I don't know where to start," I replied, shrugging.

Leanne folded her arms and told me sarcastically, " Well, the beginning would suffice."

"Fine. I lived with my mom and older brother until I was 7. My mom passed away, so my brother, who was 19 at the time, moved to an apartment and brought me with him. His name was Dean. We lived in that apartment for 3 years, and then monsters started attacking. I didn't know what they were then, but I understand now. They killed Dean, and I ran away. I've lived on the streets ever since. Then Nico found me, and now I'm here."

"Wow. That's.. a lot. So, do you know anything about the Greek gods?" She asked me, changing the subject.

"I know a little. I know some of the gods, but not a lot." I told her. " I know who Zeus is, of course. And isn't Athena the smart one?"

She laughed. "Yes, Athena is the goddess of wisdom."

"Oh yeah. Wisdom. _Right._ I have a lot to learn." I started getting overwhelmed. I never really paid attention to any type of school someone taught me, especially with my ADHD.

"Don't worry, it gets easier as you go. Come on, the campfire's about to start. Wanna sit by me?"

"Sure." I agreed, breathing a sigh of relief that I didn't have to sit alone. If I was going to be "claimed" or whatever it is, I might as well be sitting next to someone I know.

As we walked towards the fire, butterflies started erupting in my stomach, and I started feeling sick.

"You okay? You look a little queasy.." Leanne said beside me.

"Maybe because I am, I feel horrible." I replied.

"Is this about being claimed? If so, don't worry about it! I'm sure so many other people have told you that, but I'm serious, it's no big deal. All you have to do is sit there and be claimed! No one will look at you funny, or anything! You're good, trust me."

I started to relax. "Ok. Thanks Leanne."

"Anytime." She smiled at me, and we walked on.

When we finally arrived, I got a better look at the fire. From far away I could tell it was big, but standing in front of it was different. The flames reached all the way up to the trees, and licked the sky gleaming with stars.

"Let's sit over there, I want to introduce you to some of my friends." Leanne gestured for me to follow her and started walking towards a group of people sitting on some benches surrounding the fire pit. "Hey guys, this is Isaac. Isaac this is Heather, daughter of Athena, Gavin, son of Hermes, and Ellie, daughter of Demeter."

"Hi." I said to them and shook their hands.

Heather was a tall blonde girl with blue-gray eyes. She looked really happy for some reason and was smiling a really big grin at me. Ok, sure. Gavin had brown hair and a devilish smirk. He looked like he was constantly up to no good. Ellie was tall, even taller than Heather, and she had strawberry hair and a face full of freckles. She had bright blue eyes and a pleasant smile. She looked very welcoming.

I sat down in between Heather and Gavin and Heather immediately asked me every single thing about me. How I was enjoying camp, etc. My answers were short, and I hoped she didn't think I was being rude.

"So, how'd you get the name Isaac? Sorry for saying, but isn't that kind of a boys name?" She asked me.

"Oh, um.. My mom liked it, I guess." I answered, wondering why she would ask me something like that.

"Well it's a nice name! Can I call you Izzy?" She beamed at me.

"_Izzy?_" I asked, revolted. Nothing sounded girlier than that! Of course, I _was_ a girl, but still! _Izzy_?

Gavin started chuckling beside me.

"Yea! I came up with it myself! Do ya like it? Can I call you that?"

"Well.. How about Iz? I like that much better than… the other one." I told her.

Gavin could hardly control himself. He started laughing like an idiot.

"Ok! That's fine. I'll call you Iz."

I didn't know what I had gotten myself into.

"Ohh! It's starting!" Heather told me.

All at once, the campers started singing these weird campfire songs, and I'm pretty sure one was called "I Went to Olympus and Saw". I didn't try to join in; I just sat there, getting more and more nervous about getting claimed. _Couldn't it just happen already?_ I thought to myself.

Heather got really into the campfire songs, while Gavin sat there and sang along, but didn't really put much feeling into it. Hey, I probably wouldn't either. The singing was soon over, and right after started talking about the night's announcements or whatever, a red light bathed all the camper's faces. I looked around to see where the light was coming from, when Gavin nudged me and pointed up. Above me, there was a bright glowing hammer. You could tell it was transparent, but it looked pretty real to me.

"Is this claiming?" I whispered to Gavin.

"Yup. You're a daughter of Hephaestus. Congratulations." He replied.

Chiron stood up and boomed, "Isaac Malone, Daughter of Hephaestus!" People clapped politely, but a group of people on the far side of the fire pit stood up and whooped and hollered. I figured they were the children of Hephaestus.

Chiron finished the evening announcements and dismissed everybody to their cabins. He came over to me and said, "From now on you'll be sleeping in the Hephaestus cabin and during free time you'll have the option to work in the forge. You'll do your activities with your cabin and a few other cabins. You can go get your stuff from the Hermes cabin and move it to your new cabin in a moment. You will get a camp schedule in the morning. That's all you need to know at the moment, good night, Isaac." Chiron waved goodbye and trotted off to the Big House.

Gavin and Leanne were still standing next to me.

"Wanna get your stuff now?" Gavin asked me.

"Sure." I replied, and we walked off.

While we were walking back to the Hermes cabin I saw Nico and he started walking over to us. When he caught up to us he asked me, "So, you're alright, right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" I asked.

"Well, I was just wondering if you were alright with the whole claiming thing and… stuff."

"Oh. Yeah. I'm good."

"Good." We walked in silence for a while. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Hope you like the Hephaestus cabin. Bye."

"Bye." I was very confused.

We got to the Hermes cabin and I went to my temporary bed. All that was there was one other pair of clothes, raggedy and torn like the one I was wearing, my necklace my mom gave me that had a picture of me and Dean in it, the bag of food I had stolen from the man's car, _I should probably get rid of that,_ my beloved sonic hat, and another pair of Converse high tops, again, torn up and dirty. Not much, but it was my stuff, nonetheless.

I gathered all of it up and stuffed it into a big plastic bag that Gavin had dug up for me and headed to the Hephaestus cabin. Leanne had offered to go with me, but I decided I would go alone. I walked towards the metal-looking cabin and walked in. There were a couple other kids in there and they smiled and waved at me. I smiled back and headed towards Nyssa.

"Hey, which bed is gonna be mine?" I asked her.

"Oh hey, you're on the far end, top bunk. I hope you like it, no one's slept there in a while so it's kind of old." She apologized.

"That's fine, I don't mind."

I went to the end of the long hall of bunks and set my stuff on a large dresser that had the words "_Bunk #26" _Carved into it. Seeing as that was also the number carved onto my actual bed, I figured it belonged to me. I could tell someone slept on the bottom bunk, but I hadn't seen anyone come over there yet, so I wasn't quite sure who. I hopped onto my bed and looked around. The bunks were separated down the hall, boys and girls. There were also walls that came up around your own bunk, for privacy. Buttons on the walls controlled everything. Someone had put a lot of work into this cabin, and by the looks of it, it was still in progress. By the push of a button you could: make your bed, get privacy, turn the lights on or off in your space, get food, turn on the TV (which, by the way, was installed at the end of your own bed), and many, many, other things. I was going to like being in the Hephaestus cabin. Oh yes. Everybody had his or her own personalized space. One kid had a whole video game station on his bed! I began thinking about ways I could improve my own area, but I heard someone rummaging on the bed below me. I climbed down and waited for her to notice me. Until then I put on my necklace, and rearranged my clothes.

When the girl finally noticed me, she introduced herself. "Oh hey! You're Isaac, aren't you? I'm Brooklynn." She held out her hand to me.

"Yes, I am. Nice to meet you." I said, shaking her hand. "Do you sleep here?"

"Yup, I do! You're gonna love being in here, not to brag or anything, but we're a pretty awesome cabin." She laughed.

I smirked. "I can see that, and by the looks of it, you've got an unlimited supply of food. I like it!"

We laughed and talked some more. She was very pleasant, but she looked rough, like she'd been through a lot. I wondered about her back-story, but I didn't want to intrude, so I didn't ask. She had dark circles under her eyes, like she didn't get enough sleep last night. I wondered if that was just because she was having fun, or it was a regular thing. I also wondered if Brooklynn was her real name, or if that was just what everybody (including herself) called her. She was a very interesting person; but for now we were just talking and laughing and there was nothing else. It was nice to talk to someone, and I didn't want to think about anything more.

That night I met so many people I thought I was going to explode. When it was finally time to go to bed, I climbed up on my bunk, got under the covers, and slept like a rock. I didn't even think about how my new life was going to be like, all I cared about was that I had a place to live now, and they had an unlimited supply of food. Food, glorious food.


End file.
